Initially stimulated by a scholarly workshop convened in Singapore in late 2004, and written over the subsequent 18 months, this volume considers the potentially lethal pattern of infectious disease emergence in Asia. It studies linkages to changes in patterns of human activity, including but not limited to shifts in the distribution and concentration of human settlements and the patterns of movement within and between them. It explores the causes and consequences of infectious agents in the region historically and examines such newly emergent natural biological threats as SARS and avian...